Feb 24, 2020 (Financial News Media via COMTEX) --
Palm Beach, FL - February 24, 2020 — Over the next five years, the global CBD market is expected to accelerate to $23.6 billion, according to Grand View Research. All thanks to the growing adoption of CBD-infused products in industries such as pharmaceuticals, personal care, cosmetics, nutraceuticals, along medical applications. In Europe alone, the market is on course to grow 400% over the next four years, according to the Brightfield Group. Plus, CBD is seeing monumental demand in Europe. According to New Frontier Data's EU CBD Consumer Report: 2019 Overview, 46% of Europeans view CBD favorably. Up to 77% of surveyed respondents also believe CBD should be accessible in some way. All of that is creating sizable opportunity for companies such as Mota Ventures Inc. /zigman2/quotes/207595619/delayedCA:MOTA0.00%
(otcpk:PEMTF), Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. (otcqx:CWBHF) /zigman2/quotes/212650907/delayedCA:CWEB-0.35%
, Aurora Cannabis Inc. /zigman2/quotes/210559470/compositeACB-2.04%
, Canopy Growth Corporation /zigman2/quotes/200603886/compositeCGC-0.72%/zigman2/quotes/202205609/delayedCA:WEED-0.94%
, and GW Pharmaceuticals /zigman2/quotes/209686240/compositeGWPH+0.62%
.

Mota Ventures Inc. /zigman2/quotes/207595619/delayedCA:MOTA0.00%
(otcpk:PEMTF) BREAKING NEWS:Mota Ventures Inc. just announced a transition after the definitive close of First Class CBD acquisition, the Company's Board of Directors has appointed Ryan Dean Hoggan to Chief Executive Officer. The acquisition of leading brand First Class CBD coupled with the upcoming roll out of Sativida in the US, made this transition of Mr. Hoggan to Chief Executive Officer a natural fit. Ryan brings a wealth of expertise to this role, being one of the founders of Unified Funding LLC and First Class CBD. Ryan is an experienced strategist, with an strong understanding of building high value consumer brands with significant annual revenue. Ryan's extensive background in the online e-commerce space will continue to drive the Company's rapid growth in the US and spearhead its expansion into the European market. The Company intends to continue its roll up strategy of acquiring profitable, well-known CBD brands globally.

Mr. Hoggan brings more than 18 years of leadership, global business development and entrepreneurship experience in the health equipment, medical devices, and natural health products sectors. Early in his career, he was thrust into a leadership position in the family business, HOGGAN Health Industries, where he led operations, business development, and marketing efforts. After identifying an untapped niche in the market, he founded Hoggan Medical where he went on to launch over 100 health, fitness, and medical device products as well as negotiated contracts with big and small customers including the Mayo Clinic, Boeing, Daimler AG and the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA). In 2014, he fell for CBD and essential oils — both personally and professionally — after a personal health scare prompted him to research and subsequently try holistic products to improve his health. The experience ultimately led him to become a Partner and President of Offer Space, LLC and Real Oil, LLC, two rapidly growing e-Commerce and technology companies focused on serving U.S. based and international consumers in the CBD and natural health products market. In June 2019, Mr. Hoggan led a strategic divestiture of the businesses to Unified Funding, LLC to help continue an impressive growth trend. Through the operations of Unified Funding, LLC, the business has generated a database of over 4.5 million customer records and facilitated over $200m in consumer transactions from more than one million paying customers in sectors such as beauty, nutrition and subsequently CBD. Mr. Hoggan holds a BBA from Westminster College, an MBA from The University of Arizona and a Master of Global Management (MGM) from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

In connection with the appointment, Joel Shacker will transition to the role of President of the Company, and will remain a member of the board of directors. The Company made a commitment to select a new CEO to continue rapid growth in a sector that is in its infancy. "I am very excited to take on the CEO role at Mota and focus the operations on becoming a global e-commerce CBD company. I am also excited about the partnership between Unified and Sativida. Unified's extensive experience in the US and strong logistics and supply chain will provide significant support for the launch of the Sativida line. I believe through the direct to consumer online platforms we will become a leader in the CBD space. We plan to aggressively expand First Class's existing operations in the US as well as launch a European expansion, which we anticipate will yield similar results to our US operations last year," stated Ryan Hoggan, CEO of the Company. "We are extremely happy to have someone with Ryan's extensive experience stepping into this role. I am confident in his ability to execute on expanding operations and generating further revenue. I look forward to working with Ryan during this transition and continuing to build the Company." stated Joel Shacker, President of the Company.

The Company also announces that it has engaged AGORA Internet Relations Corp. for an initial twelve month term, to provide online advertising and marketing services to the Company. In consideration for the provision of services, AGORA is entitled to a fee of $60,000, to be paid in five equal tranches over the term. AGORA has agreed to accept the fee in common shares of the Company, to be determined based on the market price of the shares at the time of issuance. All common shares of the Company issued to AGORA will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

In other developments in the markets today:

Charlotte's Web Holdings Inc. (otcqx:CWBHF) /zigman2/quotes/212650907/delayedCA:CWEB-0.35%
announce that its edible pet supplements have been approved to carry seals of approval from two of the most trusted organizations in their respective industries, the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), a non-profit group dedicated to protecting and enhancing the health of companion animals throughout the country and the U.S. Hemp Authority

, an organization created for the purpose of helping create standardization and quality across the hemp industry. As the only full-spectrum hemp derived CBD brand to comply with both the NASC Quality Seal program and the U.S. Hemp Authority

Certification Program, Charlotte’s Web is further validating to pet owners why it is known as The World’s Most Trusted Hemp Extract

. The Company has been expanding its presence in the fast-growing pet CBD market, with its 12 SKU pet line experiencing 57% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2019. Charlotte’s Web pet products will also now feature labels confirming Non-GMO, Grain Free and USA Grown Hemp as part of the Company’s commitment to corporate responsibility, health and wellness, and sustainable farming practices. As part of these efforts, Charlotte’s Web has been transitioning its hemp farming from conventional to organic agriculture practices, with more than 50% of its fields now certified organic. The Company is pursuing broad organic certification for its various product lines.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. /zigman2/quotes/210559470/compositeACB-2.04%
announced its financial and operational results for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 ended December 31, 2019. “Despite delivering modest growth in our core medical and consumer business in Q2, we took immediate and deliberate actions to align our Company to current market conditions,” said Michael Singer, Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Aurora Cannabis. “As announced last week, being a profitable cannabis company for our investors is the singular near-term focus for Aurora and we have begun to implement a business transformation plan where we intend to manage the business with a high degree of fiscal discipline.”

Canopy Growth Corporation /zigman2/quotes/200603886/compositeCGC-0.72%/zigman2/quotes/202205609/delayedCA:WEED-0.94%
announced its financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2019. “In Q3 we executed across Canada, in our international markets and in our strategic acquisitions to drive revenue growth," said David Klein, CEO. “We have a lot of work to do. We are eager to capitalize on the opportunity to create an unassailable position through a tight focus on the consumer and on critical markets.” “We delivered significant gross improvement in the third quarter driven by stronger revenues and higher capacity utilization. Actions taken earlier this year are expected to meaningfully reduce stock-based compensation in FY21, and we have started to implement tighter cost controls across the organization," said Mike Lee, EVP & CFO. “We plan to take further steps to reduce our costs and right-size our business to ensure that we can generate a healthy margin profile and cash generation in the coming years."

GW Pharmaceuticals /zigman2/quotes/209686240/compositeGWPH+0.62%
will announce on February 25th, 2020 its financial results
for the fourth quarter and year ending December 31st, 2019. GW will also host a conference call the same day at 4:30 p.m. ET. Conference call information will be provided in the financial results press release.

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